Most of us are aware that any photo can be faked, a little Photo shop or any myriad of free photo editors at our disposal, we can change anything, making our reality as unrealistic as we create! No longer a time consuming chore, now simply a click away. Did you know, however that even before Photo shop was invented, photographers have been finding ways to fake photos throughout history, and not just faked spirit photos, but good old fashioned history! In the past we believed that photographs do not lie, now we know better, but back in the day, we where duped!
Most notably Abraham Lincoln, his image was manipulated more than once and without his consent as naturally a person always wants to look their best; we want to represent our very best in photos, and this is partly the reasoning behind these manipulated images. Being Cognizant of how lengthy and difficult the whole process was back then it is hard to fault it.
First photo up is John Caldwell Calhoun an American political theorist for the first half of the 19th century; he built his reputation as a political theorist by his "redefinition" of republicanism to include approval of slavery and minority rights (the southern states being the minority) he was best known for his intense and original defence of slavery as a positive good while for directing the South towards a secession from the Union. Lincoln, I imagine would not be thrilled to know his head was cropped onto the body of Calhoun, it seems Calhoun had a markedly more masculine posture perhaps, as the photographer chose this option. This is the original photograph of Calhoun:
And here is Lincoln
It was not until only recently that these photographs had been discovered to be faked. Russian dictator Josef Stalin was also known to dictate changes to his photos, here he crops out someone
who has fallen from his graces and now may be considered an enemy,
If your government cuts you from a photograph, by erasing you they could literally change how and what you believe. In this shot, from Wikipedia you can see the dramatic number of people who are; one at a time, slowly removed from this photograph, until a stark final photo of Stalin alone remains. These men in the photos are not only eliminated from the image but from real life as well, and the propaganda continues.
Back to American history we have Ulysses S. Grant and a very famous battlefield photograph, it is Grant circa 1864 on a battlefront with his troops, the interesting thing about this one is it actually is derived from three different photos. The library of congress had to do some digging to do in order to uncover this mystery :This photo was only recently discovered to be a fake.
In an age in which we think we cannot be fooled by photos, some of us still are! Throughout history many of the photos we assumed to be real, are not; how many, is uncertain as researchers are constantly discovering new evidence! So, next time you sit down and enjoy some news or think it is news, always question, never fearing to ponder, question your reality, and avoid 'buying into' anything as real, look at your news sources as this is the age of the internet, so many news sources are fraudulent, Frequently I see people post articles as 'news items' that actually contain no factual information; obvious after reading more than the title. News is a dime a dozen these days and most internet stories are not true, my son Ian taught me that early- don't believe everything you see on the internet-and please remember it is your duty to question authority and find the truth in your news when & where you can!
Thank you Fifa!
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